I find this section quite drawn out liek "British Literature." Like Spark Notes said, little gestures and subtle hints is how the British communicated during that era. Still we are just getting informed of the plot of Osmond. He wants control of his daughter and Merle is trying to help him.
As we know Osmond is a rat and a hypocrite. He married to crawl up the ladder and now he won't let his daughter do anything but marry for money. It goes to show you that a man who was not born into the aristocrat society has a hard time raising a daughter who has the aristocrat ways and wants to follow them.